Zuffa has filed an opposition to a Court ‘minute order’ last week in the UFC lawsuit which declared that in releasing its opinion on Class Certification, it would also release all of the documents under seal in the case to the public.
The ‘minute order’ last week allowed for comment on the ruling with those interested invited to file notices to the court by January 11. Several media organizations, fighters and fans filed letters of interest. Bellator and Zuffa filed its objections. Both companies filed on the grounds that the release of documents would potentially reveal trade secrets and financial information that would otherwise be confidential. Specifically, Zuffa argues that as a private company it should not have its finances available to the public as well as its competitors. Also, it noted that its parent Endeavor is a private company as well.
The January 6 Order specifically stated that it was its “intent to unseal and make public all the documents in this case with the publication of the Court’s Certification Order.”
Last month, Judge Richard Boulware indicated that he would issue an opinion that would certify the ‘Bout’ Class of athletes allegedly affected by the anticompetive harms of the Las Vegas-based MMA company. Judge Boulware has yet to release the opinion. It is anticipated that an appeal is forthcoming but everyone is waiting for the opinion to be issued.
Last week, Judge Boulware issued the January 6 Order which foreshadows the release of the opinion as well as the rest of the documents held by the Court under seal.
Zuffa argues in its January 11th filing that a “very small subset” of the briefing be redacted or held under seal. This includes 3 exhibits, expert reports of Guy Davis and Elizabeth Davis and relevant portion from Dr. Singer and Dr. Zimbalist’s expert reports.
The Zuffa brief states that there are two standards for redacting and/or sealing documents. The first is “compelling reasons” in which the party seeking to seal case records must identify a compelling reason sufficient to outweigh the public’s interest in disclosure. The second is “good cause” and is a lower standard than compelling reasons. Zuffa argues that in either scenario, the UFC would meet the standard.
The three exhibits identified were produced during the 2019 evidentiary hearing. It includes a 2016 Posting Memorandum for the sale of the UFC, a 2016 Company Overview and Dana White text messages that include individuals’ personal telephone numbers. The first two exhibits relate to business and financial information of Zuffa. The White text messages relate to the individual phone numbers although the company does not object to the release of the substantive texts.
Payout Perspective:
This objection and clarification as to whether the January 6 Order relates to all documents or just those related to Class Certification (a very important and interesting question) was anticipated. Zuffa would like it if business and financial information is not released to the public because that information could be scrutinized by competitors and the media. It will be interesting to see how the Court handles this information because this ruling might precipitate another appeal. MPO will keep you posted.
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